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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. field — farmland
  3. court — of a king
  4. saw — the tool
  5. club — for golf
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — a leader
  8. field — a subject
  9. club — for dancing
  10. press — newspapers
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. file — a line of people
  13. press — a publisher
  14. press — to push
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. court — of law
  17. file — a tool
  18. snap — to click
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. court — for sport
  21. club — a group
  22. file — a document
  23. saw — the tool
  24. field — for sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com